Chaos and Counterrevolution

After the Arab Spring
by Richard Falk

…offers a tour de force inside the Middle East region. It presents candid and lucid analyses of interconnected complexities ranging from a lurking colonial past and hegemonic policies, to rising expectations and dashed hopes following the Arab spring.Emad El-Din Shahin, Editor in Chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics

Chaos and Counterrevolution

In 2011, an extraordinary popular protest movement swept North Africa and the Middle East. Mass demonstrations and public protests inspired a new generation to imagine a future without authoritarian rule. Yet, just a few short years later this sense of hope and possibility has largely given way to gloom and pessimism. In this unique collection of blog posts and essays, renowned international law scholar Richard Falk explores the political situations in the region, including Egypt, Libya, Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, pairing his reflections on developments as they unfolded with analysis of events today.

…this volume showcase[s] both the immediacy and urgency of contemporaneous reporting and the reflectiveness and thoughtful analysis that characterizes all of Falk’s writing over the course of the last few decades. His deep knowledge of the region and especially Turkey gives extraordinary depth and texture to his compelling insights….Laleh Khalili, Author of Time in the Shadows: Confinement in Counterinsurgencies

2. Egypt
Egypt’s Transformative Moment:
Revolution, Counterrevolution, or Reform
The Toxic Residues of Colonialism:
Protecting Interests, Disregarding Rights
What Is Winning? The Next Phase for Revolutionary Uprisings
When Is an NGO Not an NGO?
Twists and Turns in the Cairo Sky
Egypt between a Rock and a Hard Place
Extreme Polarization and Genocidal Politics
Acute Islamophobia in Egypt
3. Libya
Will We Ever Learn? Kicking the Intervention Habit
A Critical Postscript to “Will We Ever Learn?”
Contra Intervention
Qaddafi, Moral Interventionism, Libya, and the
Arab Revolutionary Moment
Obama’s Libyan Folly: To Be or Not to Be
The International Criminal Court Plays Politics?
The Qaddafi Arrest Warrants
Libya after Muammar Qaddafi’s Execution
Post-Intervention Libya: A Militia State

6. Iran
Confronting Iran: Warmongering in the Middle East
Toward a Middle East Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone
Kenneth Waltz’s Risky “Modest Proposal”
Was It Wrong to Support the Iranian Revolution?
Getting the Law and Politics Right in Iran

7. Iraq
Occupying Iraq and Higher Education: The Ghent Charter
The Iraq War: 10 Years Later
ISIS, Militarism, and the Violent Political Imagination

Appendix: The Ghent Charter in Defense of Iraqi Academia
Acknowledgments

Richard Falk did it again. A masterly survey and critical analysis by an expert with knowledge and wisdom. Chaos and Counterrevolution is a subtle and sophisticated assessment of what is going on in the MENA region After the Arab Spring. It is a major contribution to the field as well as (Critical) International Relations Theory. Highly recommended.
–Fuat Keyman, Director of Istanbul Policy Center; Professor, Sabancı University

The blogposts collected in this volume showcase both the immediacy of contemporaneous reporting and the reflective, thoughtful analysis that has characterized all of Falk’s writing over many decades. His deep knowledge of the region (especially Turkey) gives extraordinary depth and texture to his compelling insights; and the power of his narrative and the excitements—and disappointments—he records impel the narrative forward with intense force.
–Laleh Khalili, Author of Time in the Shadows: Confinement in Counterinsurgencies; Professor, School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ. of London

Richard Falk’s groundbreaking investigative work on Palestine and Israel is well known. But he has also followed the swift tide of events in the rest of the Middle East with fine attention to the complex questions of international law and morality that they inevitably raise. Chaos and Counterrevolution provides crucial analysis, helping readers worldwide to understand what has been happening in many Arab countries, and in Turkey and Iran.
–Marwan Muasher, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Chaos and Counterrevolution: After the Arab Spring offers a tour de force inside the Middle East region. It presents candid and lucid analyses of interconnected complexities ranging from a lurking colonial past and hegemonic policies, to rising expectations and dashed hopes following the Arab spring. Richard Falk depicts the essence of the struggle between hegemony and emancipation in the region. He tells it as it is: painful but very real.
–Emad El-Din Shahin, Editor-in-Chief, the Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics

Chaos and Counterrevolution is available in Hardcover ($34.99), Paperback ($24.99), and Ebook ($9.99)